


The Woman with the Shield & The Man with the Plan

by CaptainJimothyCarter



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Comics), Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: 40's au, Agent Carter - Freeform, Awesome Peggy Carter, BAMF Peggy Carter, Based off of the what if episode coming to Disney +, Bucky Barnes & Peggy Carter Friendship, Captain America Peggy Carter, Chester Phillips - Freeform, During World War II, F/M, Falling In Love, Friendship/Love, Howard Stark - Freeform, Hulk Buster suit, POV Peggy Carter, POV Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter & Howard Stark Friendship, Peggy Carter as Captain America, Peggy gets the serum, Post Serum Peggy Carter, Red Skull [mentioned], SSR, Skinny Steve, Steggy - Freeform, Steve Rogers is Not Captain America, Steve is doing illegals, during WWII, lusting, pre serum steve - Freeform, pre-SHIELD, stevepeggy, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:29:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24085891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainJimothyCarter/pseuds/CaptainJimothyCarter
Summary: Based off of the upcoming What if: Peggy Carter got the serum to become Captain America rather than Steve on Disney +.“You followed us,” Steve observed instead of answering her question. He held his bruised hand out to her, slender with long artist fingers. “Steve. Steve Rogers, ma’am.”There was that smile again, softer this time as she shook his hand in a firm grip. “Agent Peggy Carter, and yes, I did follow you."
Relationships: Peggy Carter & Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers
Comments: 4
Kudos: 46





	The Woman with the Shield & The Man with the Plan

**Author's Note:**

> This is my own inspiration for what happens in the episode, trying /really/ hard not to pull off from the comic. 
> 
> I hope I did Peggy justice.

One of the last things Steve remembers as his head makes contact with the slimy brick walkway of the backend alley behind the diner is a literal angel dressed in a military uniform, stalking towards him. Her victorian curls didn’t quite match the disgusted look on her face, her hazel eyes drawn only to Steve’s new bully of the week that stood above him. When his eyes fluttered shut, he could’ve sworn he heard the familiar sound of skin-hitting-skin and a second body hitting the brick walkway.   
  
There was a familiar taste of copper on the back of his tongue, the metallic taste was not something one liked to wake up to. Though Steve supposed no one liked to come to in the middle of an alley with a swollen jaw, a bleeding cut above their eyebrow and their bully passed out in a mysterious colored puddle.   
  
The memory of what had happened slowly came to mind. The fist striking him against the side of his head, something being muttered about how he was a disgrace, an angelic figure stalking towards him. It all flooded his mind at once. The angelic figure, she -   
  
Steve’s head whipped around far too fast for his liking to take in the angel squatting beside him, careful to not let the hem of her olive green skirt touch the slimy bricks. It took him a moment to become aware that her fingers had been in his hair, her jacket was used as a makeshift pillow against the bricks.  
  
“I could’ve handled him,” Steve grumbled, his words coming out slightly slurred and weak due to the swollen jaw. He suspected he had bit his tongue on the way down, given how it felt heavier in his mouth. Steve’s head was dangerously spinning as he forced himself to sit up. There were two of Tommy MacMiller on the ground in front of him. Steve tried to close his eyes to give the dizziness time to subside, at least until he heard the woman give a small, amused laugh. His tongue poked out of his pink lips, feeling how the skin was split open. That was going to hurt later.   
  
When the dizziness subsided and his eyes finally stopped seeing two of everything, Steve let his head roll against the backside of the diner’s wall to look up at his savior. She was gorgeous, there were not enough words in the English dictionary to describe her beauty. Her lips were shaded in a deep red, those lips turning into a small smile when she had heard him. Her jacket was still in his lap, covered in the gunk that would lay in an alleyway. Her tie was undone and the end stained red, no doubt having been used to try to stop the bleeding.   
  
There was no doubt in his mind that this stranger was breaking several military protocols in her uniform alone just to help some idiot kid from Brooklyn.   
  
“Should I have just stepped back and watched as the brute beat your pretty face in?” Peggy asked, raising a brow at him. “That would have been an injustice in itself. However, I will take your insistence that you could handle yourself as a thank you.” He was blushing shades of soft pink, highlighting the darkened freckles across his cheeks. Honestly, he was such a pathetic thing laid out against the wall. He could barely keep his head up and looked a shade of green that promised he would see his lunch from earlier today.    
  
And while Peggy should have very well just had left him alone in the alley once she’d handled the bully, she knew she couldn’t do that. There was something about watching this man stand up to a bully two times, if not three times his size. She’d followed them when she saw the pair getting thrown out of the diner, watching the blonde take a good crack across the head that should’ve knocked the most sensible of people down. Yet, he got back up. And he did it again and again until Peggy couldn’t handle it anymore and had to step in herself.    
  
Feeling his face warming up, the blonde let out a wheezing breath and started to attempt to draw himself to his feet. She stood with him, standing a few inches taller than him with her heels on. That explained the constant clicking noise he had heard after he was thrown out of the diner.    
  
Steve let out another breath and used his inhaler, turning his head to give a series of coughs that only aided his headache in starting to upgrade to a migraine. The coughing alone caused the beautiful stranger’s brow to pinch in concern. He waved it off, wordlessly handing the jacket back to her.    
  
“I’m curious,” Peggy continued as if Steve wasn’t just choking before her. “What made you go after that brute? He was no bother to you while in that diner. Not once did he look your way.”    
  
Pushing his hand through his back alley damp hair, Steve shoved it off of his forehead. He used the wall to support himself, feeling like he wouldn’t be able to walk on his own if he dared try. The question made his pink lips pull into a small pout.   
  
“You followed us,” Steve observed instead of answering her question. That earned him a set look that caused him to blush again. “He was annoying that waitress. The gal told him to stop it and leave her alone and yet he still tried to pinch her thighs. I wasn’t going to let that continue, not without saying something. Everyone else ignored it, I wasn’t gonna.” He held his bruised hand out to her, slender with long artist fingers. “Steve. Steve Rogers, ma’am.”  
  
There was that smile again, softer this time as she shook his hand in a firm grip. “Agent Peggy Carter, and yes, I did follow you, but only because I was curious to see where this fight would end. You didn’t do it to win that gal over? They certainly don’t pay attention to you.”   
  
“Ma’am - Miss Carter, I just...I just don’t like bullies. _ Hands down. _ I don’t care where they come from. Nazis -” He waved his hand over towards the promotional poster to sign up for the war - “or local schoolboys who think that they could get away with harassing someone who's just doing their job.”   
  
Her head bobbed up and down ever so slightly as if she had already understood this. “You’re different from the rest of them. I saw your F4 paper or should I say I saw  _ all  _ of them?” Peggy tapped her perfectly manicured nails against Steve’s worn sketchbook, where he’d been hiding the F4 papers from Bucky. It was the one place he wouldn’t look. Peggy pulled one out and flicked the worn piece of paper open, clearing her throat. “Thomas Crane from New Jersey. Tommy Russo from Manhattan. Robert Long from Maine. And ah, here it is Steve Rogers. Dated back  _ right  _ when the war had reached the United States’ soil. It does me no good to tell you that being asthmatic alone won’t allow you to join much less this laundry list of problems here.”    
  
Steve had turned that shade of green again, looking like a child who had been caught stealing red-handed. She stuffed the papers neatly into his sketchbook but did not offer it back to him. “I do believe you need to come with me, Steven. Unless you have something to say that could defend yourself and your illegal activities?”   
  
_ “But -” _ Steve hadn’t moved, his mind trying to pick up the pieces of his life falling apart around him. First Bucky was drafted [after spending weeks being angry that Bucky had abandoned him, Steve found the drafting letters under Bucky’s bed], now  _ this?  _ This is what Bucky had warned him about, being caught red-handed. And no doubt by an angel. It was hard to think when your brain had just been thrown around for the last ten minutes. “No, ma’am. I don’t. Cause I don’t regret what I did.”   
  
Steve could’ve sworn he’d seen her smile, just the barest flicker on her red lips.    
  
“Very well. Follow me.” Peggy turned on her heel, pausing to take Steve’s arm in hers. He could barely support himself as it was and she didn’t need him passing out in the streets.    
  
***   
  
There were many deciding factors in Peggy’s decision to bring Steve with her. For one, it was the fact that he continuously stood up to a man twice his size and didn’t back down despite the very fact he could’ve gotten himself killed.    
  
Two, he very well lied to the US government about himself to join a war that no one should’ve had a part in fighting. They didn’t know what laid behind those borders, those poor, sorry bastards.    
  
And three, Steve despite knowing he was possibly in trouble here, still didn’t lie to her and told her the actual truth.   
  
She appreciated that.   
  
He was in trouble, right? Peggy had said Agent and she wore a military uniform, correct? He hadn’t imagined that. Then why had she brought him to her hotel room instead of the first government office or recruiting station that they passed? And they had passed plenty!    
  
Steve blinked in confusion as she led him inside of her small hotel room, immediately sitting the blonde on the bed. Peggy retreated to her bathroom and returned with a first aid kit, laying it beside Steve to rummage through.    
  
The confusion remained when she started to clean the cut on his forehead, expert fingers holding his head still. The stinging didn’t even bother him as much as it normally would given he was trying to think of what in the hell was happening here.   
  
“I can’t decide if you’re incredibly brave or stupid,” Peggy sighed, tossing the alcohol pad aside and using a damp rag to clean the filth and blood off of the side of his face. Her jacket and tie had been tossed over an incredibly overcrowded desk. “For both factors in this case, honestly. For fighting some pea-brained brute  _ and  _ continuously attempting to sign up for the army under illegal and pretenses. Do you have any idea what would happen to you if you were caught?”   
  
_ Not this again.  _ Steve sighed and pulled away, Peggy pulling the rag away to look at him. It shocked him to see genuine concern in her eyes. “Some sort of an idea. Bucky - my friend, he was...drafted - he would argue with me every time I attempted to join. Gave me speech after speech, I guess it never stuck.”   
  
“That’s a good friend of yours.” Holding Steve’s head again, she cleaned him up, doing her best to get rid of the muck. “You’re very lucky I decided to pause in that diner to talk to a friend of mine, Steven. Anyone could’ve found your left behind sketch pad and you would have found yourself in an even worse situation than you are now.”   
  
Swallowing thickly, Steve’s eyes fell to his hands, squeezing his fingers into fists to feel his knuckles pop. They’ve done that ever since he was pushed off of the slide as a kid, the first time he’d ever faced a bully. Broke his nose in that fight too, his ma was not happy about that. “Speaking of, ma’am, what  _ is  _ my situation? Aren’t you going to turn me in?”  
  
There was that smile on her lips again. Steve was sure he wasn’t imaging it, concussion or not. Peggy was smiling as she pulled away to look down at Steve. She tossed the rag into the corner and brought the ottoman to sit down on so they were eye-level. “I should,” she sighed, using a foul-smelling balm on the bruises on his scrawny arms. “I very well  _ should  _ turn you in, but I won’t. There’s something about you that I can’t bear to see waste behind bars simply because you wanted to fight. No one deserves that. Instead, I think...you might be the person we’re looking for.”    
  
“Looking for, ma’am?” He was whispering now like this was some shared secret between them. In reality, he was filled with such relief that he felt almost light-headed. “Who? What for?”   
  
“Answers will come in time, darling. I’ll have to talk to a few friends of mine, but I’m sure they will agree. Now, why don’t I escort you back home?” The way that question was phrased, told him it wasn’t a question at all. She was going to escort him back home and Steve couldn’t say he blamed her. “I’d rather not find you in the alley again.”    
  
A small, weak laugh escaped Steve’s lips. He showed all teeth when he smiled and the corners of his eyes wrinkled when he did. He stood up, feeling a little shaken but not so much now knowing she wasn’t going to turn him in. He trusted her, strange enough. “You sound a lot like Bucky,” he huffed good-naturedly.   
  
It was Peggy’s turn to laugh as she led him outside of her hotel room. By now, the sun had started to set and cast the city in a dark ray of red and orange light. “Peggy, darling. Call me Peggy. I think you earned that right.”   
  
Steve couldn’t help, but notice that as they rounded the corner for his block, Peggy still hadn’t given him his sketchbook back. He wanted to ask for it back, but he didn’t know if she planned to even give it to him considering the illegal paperwork it held. “Yes, ma’am - I mean...Peggy.”    
  
The brunette still wore that smile on her lips when Steve was on his doorstep, looking more than nervous to have her standing there. She said nothing as she leaned closer and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. Almost immediately, he lit up like the 4th of July in shades of pinks and reds, his nose starting to drip with blood.   
  
Steve’s hand clamped over his nose, jumbling with his keys and swiftly attempting to get inside without having her see what laid behind the thin door. His head poked outside the door where she still stood, painted in shades of reds and oranges that lit up her frame from a nearby window. “Thank you, Peggy. For everything.”   
  
“No, Steven,” Peggy whispered, shaking her head as her hand laid on the doorknob. His sketchbook was tucked neatly under her arm. “Thank you. We’ll be by in the morning. Take care and water your daisies. They’re looking a bit dry.”  
  
Steve watched her walk away, feeling like he had some sort of out of body experience like he was a passenger in his own body and just watched this beautiful woman pull him out of an alley, patch him up and offer him a way into the war.  
  
***  
  
The orange sunlight that streamed through the little kitchen window hits the black and white checkered covers, illuminating the lumps underneath the blanket. The lump underneath grumbled and sniffled, trying to find a warmer spot because the sunlight brought no warmth with it.   
  
Steve sighed when he became fully aware that he was not going to both get any more sleep with the sun up and get any warmer underneath the three blankets. His vision blurred as he blinked sleep clear from his eyes, taking in the dismal scene that was his small apartment. The sunlight had continued its path to the dreary, gray walls, where any warmth that the sun would bring was now being seeped in through the holes in the wall. Holes he attempted to cover up through the years with various sketches and paintings he’d created or even the precious magazine covers that Bucky liked to collect of petite women.    
  
The floorboard creaks underneath Steve’s sock-clad feet as he slowly rolled himself outta bed, his muscles seizing and aching as he shuffled into the kitchen. He avoided the clawed foot of the makeshift tub-turned table by the piece of plywood that Bucky had painted and laid over it some years ago. It was barely recognizable now, covered in various piles of paper that only made sense to Steve between the letters from collection agencies, Bucky’s letters, and various bills and doctor notes that were now long ignored.    
  
This was a morning routine of Steve’s at this point. Get up when the sun rose, shuffle into the kitchen to try to cook something that resembled breakfast, and drink a cup of bitter, black coffee while sitting in his stained, high back chair that was supported by a pile of books, and looking over the new mail that would tell him more bad news about his life and how much money he owed to someone else. And as habits and routines go, today’s was interrupted.    
  
The second that Steve had picked up the mail that was shoved through the rusted slot, there was a knock on the door. He nearly jumped out of his skin, trying to decipher who in the world would be up at this hour until his sleep fogged brain kicked in.  _ Peggy _ . She had said she’d come by in the morning.   
  
Peggy Carter was a hell of a sight, especially in the early morning sun that highlighted her features in the damp and dark hallway. It took Steve a minute too long of staring to become aware that Peggy was not alone. A man just a few inches taller than her with a thick, black mustache and brown eyes that  _ shined  _ with a life in them that told Steve he held the answers to questions he had never considered. The smell of coffee reached the blonde’s nose, his eyes falling to the steaming mug in the stranger’s hands.    
  
“Good morning, Steven. You look rested,” Peggy greeted him, already stepping inside his apartment without being asked. “This is Howard Stark, a close friend of mine. I asked him to come with me today to assist in explaining a few things.” Her eyes fell to the blonde, noting the black bags under his baby blue eyes. She took in his sleeping shirt, just an oversized, faded shirt that had been stretched out far too much in the wash.   
  
If Peggy Carter looked like an angel yesterday, today she looked like a goddess. And that was the only thought swirling through Steve’s mind, his mouth partway open. It wasn’t until Howard cleared his throat and the sound of ceramic mug meets plywood that Steve closed his mouth and pulled himself together.    
  
“I can see why you like him,” Howard murmured, loud enough for Steve to  _ just  _ hear him. The older man clocked the pink dusting across Steve’s face.    
  
Peggy shot Howard a look that caused the man to shrug and silence himself, taking a few steps around the cramped kitchen. “Ignore him, Steven,” she sighed, shaking her curls. “May we talk? I have some promising news that you might like to hear.”   
  
As Howard walked past Steve and into the living room, the blonde finally became aware of how underdressed he was compared to the other two. He was still turning over what Agent Carter had said in his mind. “Of-of course. Let me-let me change.” It seemed all the bravado and courage he had yesterday when speaking to her was now gone, now that he wasn’t having his head beaten in, in some darkened alleyway.   
  
All Peggy could do was just give a small nod of her head and a quiet laugh when Steve immediately locked himself inside the cramped closet to change clothes. “Look at what you’ve done, Howard. You’ve embarrassed the boy.”   
  
“I did no such thing,” Howard mused, turning to face Peggy from where he was studying the photos on the wall. “Kid has got some taste.  _ Life  _ issue - ” The words immediately stopped when he saw Peggy’s pointed look, dropping the pinned photo back against the wall. “He has a talent for drawing, I see. Sketching. See’s things from a different perspective than from you and I. Did you take a look at his sketchbook last night?”   
  
“I might not know much of the art world, Howard, but I know enough to not invade another man’s privacy. And that does come from not looking at his sketchbook. I merely kept it to keep it from falling into someone else’s hands and risk Steven getting caught.” She took a few steps around the kitchen, fingers tracing over the plywood. “You must not have had any siblings growing up. You  _ never  _ look at a girl’s diary.”   
  
“Yeah? Did you have secrets to keep, Pegs? I can imagine your diary.” Howard’s laugh echoed, causing Peggy to roll her eyes. He leaned into the doorway, a frown on his lips as he spotted the pile of bottles and medicine on the counter. He silently gestured to be handed a glass bottle behind Peggy, that frown growing when she slipped it into his hands.    
  
He gagged as he popped the cork, shoving it back inside and wrinkling his nose. “You saw the papers?” His voice had softened, carrying just loud enough for the brunette to hear him. “Medical bill and loans. Diagnoses?” He picked up the bottle and wagged the small item in her face. “Glance at those medicines behind you, Carter. That’s far too much for anyone to be able to survive on, much less afford. This here,  _ Nembutal _ . This must’ve cost him close to eight bucks alone! And that’s a steal, if at all possible. It’s used to treat -  _ hey.”  _   
  
Peggy snatched the bottle from Howard’s hand, cornering him in the small space between the doorway and the counter. “Stark, I am  _ well  _ aware of what Nembutal is used for. I am as well,  _ well  _ aware that Steve is not what Phillips is looking for either. I have seen his records, I  _ know  _ Steve is sickly and his range of medicines keeping him alive is expensive, but we will not go snooping through this man’s flat. He trusts us and I would like to not break that trust between us. Now, will you  _ behave _ ?”    
  
The pout on Howard’s lips told her that he was listening, even if he didn’t like it. Setting the bottle back aside, Peggy frowned as her hand brushed over an unopened letter that was just sitting on the counter.  _ James Barnes, 107th Infantry.  _ She’s read that name before on the reports from Berlin. Sergeant Barnes alone had killed a Hydra Assassin that made an attempt on Colonel Phillips’ life. And all Barnes could say about how he knew the unassuming man wasn’t theirs was because he curled his r’s when he was speaking. Set something off in him. Sharp Shooter. Excellent instinct. 

  
So it seems that Rogers had been in good company, which explains how he survived this long. And it is why he was drowning in medical debt now.  
  
A nervous breath left Steve’s chest as he gripped the dull, brass handle, closing his eyes. He could _just_ hear Peggy and Howard’s voice on the other side of the door. It was drowned out by the banging upstairs, shaking off the few bits of dust that landed on his golden hair. No point in avoiding this now. Peggy wouldn’t have shown up with some technical eccentric, wired looking genius if she was going to arrest him.   
  
He hoped.  
  
Steve tried to pretend that Peggy’s smile didn’t make his heart flutter when he joined them at the wanna-be table. He didn’t think he could sit down, his nerves were singing and causing his fingers to tap on a bill in front of him. “S-so,” he whispered, starting to snatch up the bills and paperwork just to have something for his hands to do. And they didn’t need to see this. “What’s all this about? Did you change your mind on - “  
  
“You’re not in trouble,” Peggy said softly and firmly. She met his eyes when she said it to drive the point home. Steve’s shoulders slowly relaxed as the news sunk in. “If you were going to be arrested, I would’ve already done it by now. Quite the opposite, actually, Steven. I think you’ll be of use to us.”  
  
Despite the news of not being arrested, he couldn’t help but frown. Steve’s arms crossed over his chest and a pout was on his lips as he looked down at the table and back up to her. He couldn’t make eye contact for more than a few seconds. “Use how? Whose us?”  
  
“I _told_ you he would question,” Howard sighed, rolling his eyes. “Should’ve just let me come in and talk to him. He has too much of a crush on you. He’ll agree to whatever you say, Pegs.”  
  
“I’m _right_ here!” Steve spat at Howard, giving him an annoyed look. “I can _hear_ you. I’m deaf in my left ear, not both of them. And I...I… don’t - I mean…”  
  
“Look at what you’ve done,” Peggy sighed at Howard, setting the files down and coming around to Steve’s side. She sat him down in the chair and was already handing him a handkerchief from her pocket, tilting his head back. “Your nose is bleeding, darling, and please ignore Howard. Sometimes I wish I invested in that electric muzzle for him. You, Steven Rogers are just the man we’ve been looking for to assist us.”  
  
Steve’s head tilted back down when he was sure that he wasn’t going to drip blood over his hand-me-down dress shirt. The handkerchief was clenched in his hand as he looked down at what Peggy’s fingers were tapping at. A manilla folder stamped with the letters SSR in bold green. She flipped it open and pulled out a black and white photo of a suit of metallic, bulky armor with a bucket-shaped head, and a long, complicated-looking typed out assessment.   
  
“Do you want me to take a test to see if I can fly that thing? It does fly, doesn’t it? You have what looks like blasters along the feet there.” Carefully, Steve’s fingers brushed over the bottom, looking up at Howard or Peggy for confirmation. Howard looked impressed and Peggy? Well, that proud look on her face told him that he was doing something right.  
“It does, or so that’s the theory. I’m afraid we haven’t tested it yet. We haven’t found the right candidate,” Peggy said softly, taking a seat beside Steve and flipping the page over to pull out a few more photos. They showed Howard working on the suit with sweat soaking his shirt and soot rubbed across his brow. He looked exhausted, not that there was much difference between Howard then and now.   
  
“And...you think _I_ am the right candidate out of...thousands of soldiers?” That pout of disbelief was back on Steve’s lips, looking back down at the paperwork. Someone had written names in the corner, _Hodge, Jefferson, Killian, Monsoon_ before crossing them out in a hurried manner. “Why me? Why not any of them out on the field?”  
  
It was Howard’s turn to speak, sitting on Steve’s other side and opening up another file and passing it towards him. “Because I don’t trust them. They don’t have the gut or brawns. They see war and they see a manner to get their hands dirty. They just see an enemy. And…” His eyes looked up to Peggy and the genius’s lips turned into a small smile. “ _And_ they don’t have Peggy’s trust. You, Steve are the _perfect_ candidate. I can adjust this to your size and enhance your abilities. You will be able to walk into war and be unharmed. You see things others don’t see. You’ll be by Peggy’s side and - “  
  
_“You’re going to war?!”_ The question came out in a squeak that made Steve’s face flush. Or was it Peggy’s almost shocked, if not amused look on her face. She raised an eyebrow as if to say why and Steve was staring hard down at the file Howard had handed him. It was a list of compiled names and reasons as to why these candidates had not passed. “I-I just mean...not against your skills, ma’am. You’re good - a good soldier, I assume. And - and I just…”  
  
There was an amused look on Howard’s face that Peggy wanted to wipe off, only because she knew he’d tease her over drinks tonight. She just laughed softly and closed the file on Steve’s hand, tilting his head up by his chin to look her in the eyes. “I can handle myself and after what I’d seen yesterday, Steven, so can you. This is your chance.”   
  
“It’s called Iron - ” Howard began before Peggy interrupted him.  
  
“I _told_ you, we are not calling it that ridiculous name. And honestly, man, have some pride in your work.” She looked back at Steve after sharing a look with Howard. “It’s called S.T.A.R.K: Strong Titan Artillery Response Killer. The suit is designed to withstand enemy artillery from above and below. Not even German force’s tanks could take this thing out of the sky and if they did, then they have about a ten-ton hunk of metal falling on them and crushing them. Once Howard gets your assessment of your weight and height, he’ll update the safety features inside. So, Steven, what do you say?”  
  
The blonde was quiet, turning this over in his mind. What _could_ he say? He didn’t _want_ to say no. He was going to help, he was going to do some actual good here. He could _save_ people. There was no way in _hell_ he was gonna say no here.   
  
“On one condition, if you can fulfill it.” Steve still wasn’t exactly sure the extent of Peggy’s powers here or really what she even did. “The 107th, I have a friend there. I want to be stationed with him. He...has a habit of getting into trouble.”  
  
Peggy’s eyes sparkled with amusement as she shook Steve’s hand firmly before he was shaking Howard’s excited hands. The genius looked like you just told him Christmas was around the corner. “Seems like the two of you have something in common, then. I’ll see what I can do. For now, pack a bag. We’re leaving in ten minutes."  
  
***  
  
“Let me get this straight...” Steve sighed, rubbing at his temples. It was barely nine in the morning and yet today felt like it was lasting a lifetime. “You are not only thrusting an unknown compound of drugs to be injected into your system but you’re also hoping to activate it with a machine that hasn’t been tested? Am I missing something here, Agent Carter?”  
  
Peggy glanced towards the rearview mirror, seeing Howard’s brown eyes straying from the road and looking at them. Even without being able to see his face, she knew he was smirking. There was the sassy man in Steve that she’d met the day before. “No, that seems about right. I fail to see what’s so hard to wrap your mind around, darling. This is a very real procedure that’s been tested on paper and theorized. There’s no real way to know what will truly happen until it's done in person.”  
  
“In front of...what did you say? All these important men? Like generals, reporters, scientists?” Steve huffed, rolling his eyes. “What do you hope would come from this...this drug?”  
  
“Something that will change the tide of the war.” Despite that she said this, Peggy got the feeling Steve didn’t agree with her. _“We’re here.”_ _  
_  
“Yes, but...why you?” The question came out wrong, given Peggy’s raised eyebrow look and Steve’s face flushed. “Not that-not that you’re not capable of it, ma’am! It just seems very dangerous and I-I’d hate to think you’d die in the name of science or-or suffer or - ”  
  
“Because,” Howard interrupted, much to Steve’s relief as he threw the break on the car and turned around in his seat to look at the pair. “Peggy Carter is the best chance that we got to win this war. Stop worrying your pretty little head. Besides, with both Project Rebirth and with the S.T.A.R.K. suit, the tide of the war will turn soon enough. Now get inside before you say anything else wrong, kid and Pegs puts a bullet through your foot while you’re shoving it down your throat.”  
  
Steve was the odd man out in the room. This room was filled with reporters, generals, big-time-up politicians, big men in suits, and scientists. Howard included, given how he gave Peggy a big shock-off smooch on the cheek, ruffled Steve’s hair like he was a child, and bounded off to go play with a machine that looked like a redesign of an Iron Maiden with a glass window. It was terrifying and the metallic tubes running on the floor, connected to the machine didn’t help in the matter.  
  
“You’ll be fine,” Peggy whispered to Steve, nudging him with her arm. “Shoulders back, head up. Act as if you belong here and no one will question. If they do, inform them that you’re under Doctor Erksine’s watch. They won’t question you then.”   
  
Turns out Doctor Erksine was a friendly, German doctor with a balding head, and kind eyes. He shook Steve’s hand with great vigor and hugged Peggy in greeting. When Erksine looked at Peggy, there was this _grateful_ look in his eyes.  
  
“So you are Steven, correct?” Dr. Erksine asked, having just stopped greeting the pair of them and turning to Steve while Peggy was whisked off. He saw how the scrawny blonde looked over his shoulder, worry written across his features for her. “Don’t vorry. Peggy vill be safe.”  
  
“So everyone tells me,” Steve huffed, not believing a word they’re saying. The machine just didn’t look promising. And if you had to wear goggles to control the machine like Howard was doing up in the controls, then it wasn’t very safe. “I just don’t want her hurt.”  
  
“I think…” Erksine turned to look down at Steve with a small smile on his lips, scratching at his stubble. “Peggy could say the same about you, Steven. She told me what happened yesterday. Don’t worry your secrets are safe with me. You are a good man. Vhen this is over and the room is clear, I will help Mr. Stark with the assessment. Quick and painless, I hope.”  
  
Steve’s mouth had just opened to question Erksine about what in the _hell_ did he mean about _he hoped_ when Peggy was back at his side dressed in a white tank top and a pair of slacks that left very little to the imagination. Steve felt his cheeks heat up bright pink, keeping his eyes up to her curls.   
  
“I think you’ve said enough, Doctor,” Peggy teased, patting his arm. “ _Steve.”_ She looked down at him and squeezed his forearm gently. “The show is about to start.”  
  
“Just...be safe. As safe as you can be in that contraption,” the blonde grumbled, still eyeing the machine.  
  
Peggy laughed, leaning over to press her lips against his cheek when no one was looking and ushering him off towards the seats.  
  
Steve was seated beside a man named Colonel Phillips, one who regarded him with a stiff lip, like he was nothing more than the bile on the bottom of his shoe. Steve met his eyes too, didn’t back down when his brow wrinkled ever so slightly as if he was assessing him out.  
  
“You’re Stark and Carter’s project?” He asked in a grunting manner, hands gripping the brim of his hat.   
  
The way he asked the question, Steve got the feeling that he already knew the answer. “I am.” If this Phillips expected him to back down because he was some scary war-timed general, then he had the wrong man. “Is there a problem with that, sir?”  
  
“The only problem I see is how a scrawny kid like you is going to survive in this war. I’ve seen better soldiers than you lay down their lives for this country. One breath in of smoke from a grenade and you’re done for.” Phillips sniffed and turned away from Steve, one leg crossing over the other to rest his hands on.  
  
Steve could feel his insides boiling, but any retort would give the man satisfaction to know he got under his skin. “Then I guess…” Slowly. Regarding his words, even if Phillips looked like he was going to ignore them. “I’ll just have to prove myself, won’t I?”  
  
He could’ve sworn two things at that moment as Erksine and Peggy walked into their general sight. One, Phillips had an amused look on his expression. And two, Peggy glanced in his general direction and nodded. The barest of nods. It must’ve been nothing but a fluke for both those things. Things he wanted to happen.   
  
_Right?_ _  
_  
The blonde had very little time to consider this possibility when Peggy was laid back in the machine. He found himself on the edge of the seat, back straight, eyes down. He wasn’t watching Phillips or the reporters, Steve’s full attention was on Peggy. He didn’t hear what they were saying, too much buzzing in his right ear and too soft-spoken for his left.   
  
The door swung close and Steve held his breath, nails digging into the fabric of his slacks. This wasn’t right. The machine was starting to whirl, any sound being drowned out by the sound of the machine. Lights were flashing dangerously and sparks flew from the controls where Howard was sitting.   
  
And Peggy. Peggy was _screaming_. When Stark called for the doctors to shut it down, she insisted she could handle this, insisting she could take it. Steve could hear her screaming over the noise, having half a mind to tell them to shut it off. He knew Peggy wouldn’t forgive him if they did. The second the machine was turned off and the door swung open, Steve found himself starting to bolt down to the floor before the doors were fully opened and caught Peggy as she stumbled forward.  
  
There was something about her that told Steve she was different. Her shoulders and arms had more definition in muscle and she stood a few inches taller. He didn’t get much of a chance to focus on her as people started to crowd around them. He gave Peggy a relieved smile and felt her hand close around the small of her back, giving him a small hug.  
  
“You look...good,” he whispered into Peggy’s ear before she was pulled away from him.  
  
The crowd was massive around Peggy, nurses, and scientists running to her. No doubt to ask her invasive questions as to how she felt and what condition she was in. To the point that Steve was forced off to the side. He was often overlooked anyway for his size and this was one of those times that it came in handy.  
  
There was something odd about the man in the suit that was just coming down the stairs if you asked Steve. He had a look on his expression that looked between disgust and determination and Bucky had been the one to teach him that nothing good ever came from those two looks combined. Steve’s blood ran cold when he saw a flash of silver coming from the man’s suit jacket.   
A gun.  
  
Bucky often told Steve he was a full-blown idiot who acted before he thought. And while it seemed to get him into more trouble than good, Steve never dismissed Bucky on that thought. And if Bucky was here right now, he was pretty sure he’d get an earful of yelling for throwing himself in danger rather than get himself out of the way. Everyone’s attention was too surrounded by Peggy and the doctors, they weren’t focused on those outside of the crowd. 

_ “He has a gun!” _ The warning screamed from Steve’s lips before he could stop himself, throwing himself towards the man.   
  
Steve didn’t even  _ think  _ before he threw himself at the gun-toting man, the gun going off the second they landed on the hard floor of the laboratory. The gun clattered to the floor, sliding just a few feet away. The sound of the gun being fired echoed around the room, people scrambling to get out of the way in time.  
  
“Get off of me!” The man snarled in Steve’s ear and practically kicked him off of him, throwing him back into the very machine that had transformed Peggy.   
  
His head had struck metal and Steve tasted the familiar copper in his mouth for the second time that week, having bitten his tongue. Not one to stay down long, especially when the assailant was picking his gun back up, Steve threw himself back at the German man to try to wrestle the gun from him. Instead, the man struck the butt of the gun aside Steve’s temple.   
  
Steve instantly crumbled to the floor, his vision turning white as he passed out.   
  
Everything had happened in a matter of two seconds, the second that Steve collapsed on the floor, Peggy bolted towards the German. Snatching a clipboard from the desk, she used her newfound strength, breaking the clipboard over his head. The gun clattered to the floor where she kicked it out of the way. Her shoulder rammed into his throat, knocking the wind out of him and sending him halfway across the room.  
  
Erksine knelt beside Steve, taking the clean towel offered by Howard to try to clean the blood off of the side of Steve’s face. “Steven. Mr. Rogers can you hear me?”   
  
The ringing was intense in Steve’s ears, groaning as he was picked up off of the floor and made to slump against Howard’s frame. His head felt three times as heavy as it should be. His body did not want to comply and he slumped into Howard. Not the first time he’s been knocked aside the head, though it would be the first time it was with a gun. Turns out guns and trash can lids were insanely different.   
  
Who knew.   
  
“You’re okay, Stevie. You’re okay.” Howard was whispering in his ear, peeling off his coat to press it to the bleeding cut above Steve’s head. “There we go. It’s just a shallow cut, doc. Y’know the head. It's gotta bleed.”   
  
“Something tells me this is not his first time with a concussion.  _ Steven.” _ A hand appeared in Steve’s vision and fingers snapped, jarring him out of his blurred vision. “Follow my fingers.”   
  
“You’ve saved my life,” Erksine breathed softly as if it was some shared secret between them. “Miss Carter has saved my life before from Hydra. She pulled me out of Red Skull’s home by posing as his maid. You are no different than her when it comes to bravery. Thank you, Steven. I am in your debt.”   
  
Steve was made to sit up against the stairs with a cold rag across the back of his neck while everyone either dealt with the mess that was chasing after a few agents who ran or reports that came with a dangerous experiment in combination with what was to be an assassination. It took Steve a moment to make himself aware that he was not alone. Colonel Phillips stood in front of him, an impressed look etched across his face.    
  
Before Steve could even open his mouth, a hand was thrust in his face. Slowly, he shook it, a bit confused.    
  
“Turns out, I was wrong about you,” Phillips mused, with an almost amused look on his face. “You do have what it takes to be a soldier,” there was a pause and then his lips turned up while his head tilted, “But you’re still skinny.”   
  
Steve laughed, unable to help himself. Even if that motion did make his head spin. “Something you and my mother would agree on, sir. Thank you.”   
  
“Because of you, you prevented us from losing one, if not several of our most brilliant minded people in this room together. On top of that, son, you allowed us to capture a Hydra agent without them biting off that damned cyanide capsule first. The SSR owes you a great debt. When you’re out on the field, come to me. I want you to serve under me, soldier.”   
  
Steve blinked as Phillips walked away, Howard dropping to the step beside him and pressing a glass of water into Steve’s hands. “I think that might be the closest I’ve ever seen Colonel Phillips get to admitting he was both wrong and likes someone.”   
  
Peggy didn’t appear again until she was in front of Steve, arms crossed over her chest with a frown on her lips. “You were incredibly stupid!” she barked at him, throwing her hands up in the air. “You could’ve gotten yourself killed! What possessed you to dive in front of a man with a gun, Rogers?! Do you not have one self-preserving bone in your body?”   
  
Suddenly Howard and the doctor were finding themselves busy across the room, leaving the two alone. Steve huffed and set the glass down. “I was the closest person to him. In case you haven’t noticed, he was gonna kill the Doctor there! I couldn't let that happen. I was close and I’m fine.”   
  
“The gun could’ve gone off, Rogers! It could’ve killed you!”   
  
“But it didn’t! So what’s the point of arguing about it? I  _ saved  _ the doctor! Didn’t you hear Colonel Phillips? I prevented the assassination of an important man  _ and  _ got your organization a Hydra agent. Oh and I’m  _ fine  _ by the way, thanks for asking.”    
  
Peggy paused, mouth half-opened to make some retort before smirking. “I knew you would be,” she huffed. “But do not do that again. I can’t afford to lose you.”   
  
“You mean you can’t afford to lose me because of the program.” The words came out a bit harsher than intended, almost bitter.    
  
She frowned this time, pulling Steve up by his shoulder. “No. I mean I can’t lose you.”   
  
Howard waving a folder in the air with the papers fluttering about caught their attention. “Speaking of…are we still doing this? Or do you two need to get a room?”    
  
_ “Howard Stark do you never know when to shut your trap?”  _ Peggy snapped.   
  
***   
  
“I need you to promise me something,” Peggy told Steve, late that night when they were inside his apartment. Howard had decided he was going to wait in the car outside. He spent the drive home too busy mumbling to himself and using the edge of the Project S.T.A.R.K file to write down mathematical problems that no one bothered to try to understand.    
  
When Steve met her eyes, Peggy’s hand crossed the make-shift table and closed her fingers around his slimmer ones. The mutual contact made Steve’s heart race and Peggy tried to ignore how warm her ears felt. “Please do try to keep safe in my absence. The Hydra agent you captured has proven difficult for Phillips to get any intel out of and he requires my help. That means…”   
  
“That means you’ll have to be away for some time before we both find ourselves in the fields of Germany,” Steve finished for her. His lips twitched into a knowing, little smile. A private one just meant for Peggy. “Peggy, ma’am, I get it. I can look after myself, but...thank you. You go do what you do best and I’ll stay here and be a good boy.”   
  
A bark of laughter escaped the Brit’s throat before she could stop it, covering her mouth with her free hand. They still hadn’t let go of one another, not yet at least. She rolled her eyes at Steve and squeezed his hand. “You are utterly ridiculous. I am unsure of the plan once I extract information from this hell beast, but as far as I am aware, Howard will be here to fly you onto the field. At the very least, I should be there waiting for you.”   
  
“Just promise me one thing, ma’am.”   
  
Peggy’s brow rose, giving an almost fond roll of her eyes. Almost. “That I be careful?”   
  
“What? No.” Steve couldn’t help but snicker. “I know you’ll be careful and do as you please in the same manner. I want you to promise that you take that Nazi bastard down. And look after Howard.”   
  
“Always, darling. You have my word.”    
  
Standing up, Peggy couldn’t help herself in being a tad bit selfish when she pressed her lips against Steve’s pale cheek, leaving behind a stained cheek and a babbling man by the time she left.   
  
A week after Peggy had left, Howard Stark was on Steve’s doorstep at four in the morning, dressed in a pilot suit, the aviator hat covering his jet-black hair, and his trademark smile despite it being too goddamn early to be up.   
  
“C’mon, we gotta go. I just got word from Carter. They need you over there. You can sleep on the plane.” Howard was already grabbing at Steve’s arm. He had enough time to grab at a duffle bag he’d prepared the night before after Peggy’s letter.    
  
“I doubt that.” Steve scoffed, being stuffed inside an unmarked car before the pilot was speeding off down the empty street.   
  
And, Steve was right. He didn’t get to sleep on the plane, not much anyway. He was too goddamn nervous when flying, terrified that at any moment while they were crossing over sea or land that they’d be shot out of the sky. He clutched at a photo of his ma, him, and Bucky to his chest, whispering some forgotten prayer as they flew well into the night. Steve didn’t care how good of a pilot Howard was and no matter who vouched for him, he was utterly terrified of flying.   
  
Him and heights? They didn’t go so well. Steve was 5’4 and that meant he had a few inches longer drop than most people his age.    
  
Thankfully, they landed just as dawn broke over the camp without a problem.   
  
Rows and rows of tents were illuminated by the morning sun, the dew just settling on the ground. A figure was running towards the field, the sun glittering off of a round red, white, and blue shield strapped to her back.    
  
“Howard? Steve?” Peggy’s voice carried out over the field, stopping just before them. Howard had mentioned how he had designed Peggy’s suit, giving how she was constantly going out on smaller missions to keep the peace. The suit was beautifully form-fitting on her, red and white stripes down her torso. A white star in the middle of the blue uniform. Her hair was left in its curled state down her shoulders. She looked like a force of nature  
The second she saw Steve, she picked him up in a bone-crushing hug and spun him around, pretending that they were alone even as she kissed his cheek. Call her selfish but she had missed him.   
  
Steve couldn’t help the small laugh as he hugged her back, breathing in the scent of a rose that clung to her skin.    
  
“You look...amazing.”   
  
“All thanks to Howard. The man comes around from time to time.” Peggy’s lips turned into a smile, watching Howard descend from the cockpit of the plane.   
  
“What, Pegs? No hug and twirl for me? I gotta tell you, I’m feeling left out here in your two budding romance.” Howard laughed when Steve’s face heated up bright pink. “Just kidding, Rogers. You two kids go play and catch up. I got to the suit to tinker on for a bit.”   
  
Peggy raised an eyebrow at Steve and nodded her head away from the plane. She still had one arm around his shoulders and he wasn’t about to tell her to stop touching him. Surprisingly, he was touch starved for her touch.   
  
“I’m surprised you’re here in one piece. I was fully expecting you to show up with a broken nose and I would have to explain to Sergeant Barnes and Colonel Phillips as to why our recruit was all bruised up.”    
  
Steve stopped mid-step to look up at her. He quickly looked around the camp, a few soldiers already mucking about. For the most part, it looked strangely empty. That didn’t sit well with him. “Bucky? Bucky’s here? The 107th.”   
  
Peggy nodded, leading Steve to a tent on the edge of the clearing. Inside there was a cot and enough room for a desk that was covered in files. A few boxes were stacked to the side, marked SSR property. A makeup kit and a mirror sat on top of the files, long forgotten about with Steve’s arrival. She sat down at her desk, looking the blonde in his baby blue eyes.   
  
“Yes. Or I should say they were. Steven, you should know that the Hydra Agent you stopped last week - we were able to extract answers out of him.”   
  
The blonde couldn’t help, but flinch because he did not need to know how exactly she stripped information out of a Hydra agent. He waved his hand for her to continue, not trusting himself to speak.   
  
“There were plans for Hydra to kidnap members of the 107th or just about any soldiers they could get their hands on that weren’t their own. There was a plan to infiltrate a camp of soldiers in battle and kidnap them. We immediately ceased all missions within the surrounding area and changed the date going out about them and covered our tracks. Sending new soldiers out rather than the list Hydra had their eyes on. Changing missions completely, but still getting the same results we wanted.”   
  
“And...Bucky is part of these missions? Him and the rest of the 107th?”   
  
“Yes.” She sounded solemn. “You missed him just by a day. He knew you were coming and tried to wait as long as possible, but there’s only so long that he could wait. They’re due to come back within the next two weeks. We’re transmitting several messages a day. Your friend is quite the codebreaker.”   
  
Steve’s face lit up with a smile, giving a small laugh. “Only because of me and my terrible handwriting.” His face fell slightly, looking outside the flap of the tent to watch the sun paint them in soft shades of pink and orange hues. “Do you think they’ll be safe? I-I mean, I know it's war, but…”   
  
Peggy’s eyes softened, her hand laying on Steve’s shoulder to give him a comforting squeeze. “Steven, I get the feeling that when James makes a promise, he keeps it. And he promised me that he would be back here in two weeks. If we have time, I’ll alert him that you’re here and safe. It should put his mind at ease. This gives you time to get acquainted with the suit while they’re gone.”   
  
Steve’s hand laid over Peggy’s softer ones, giving her palm a gentle squeeze. There was a calmness about him now, instead of the anxious worry that had filled him over Bucky being gone, having just missed him.    
  
A comfortable silence had filled the tent, Steve unable to tear his eyes away from Peggy. Her hands had laid to cover his own, rubbing her thumb into the back of Steve’s, tracing over scars. It was a comfortable silence, that neither wanted to break. However that wasn’t a problem for Howard when he rudely threw the flap open, the pair jumping apart.   
  
“Children,” Howard scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Suits finished.”    
  
The Captain shared a look with Steve, climbing to her feet and holding her hand out to pull Steve to his. “Let’s go get you suited up, Rogers.”   
  
The suit was better than what he had ever imagined. In all honesty, Howard had truly outdone himself. The photos didn’t serve it justice when you were standing in front of a seven-foot-tall, gray metal machine. It was bulkier in person, compared to the photos. Three white stars that had been hand-painted across the chest, to mimic the star on Peggy’s shield.   
  
Steve let out a low whistle, truly impressed as he turned back to Howard with a giant grin on his face. The man looked just the same level of excitement, given how he was bouncing on the heels of his feet. It was clear he was trying to hold all this information in.    
  
“Alright, Howard. Show me how to use it.”    
  
Christmas truly had come early for Howard, his face lighting up as he bounded forward. “Right. To open it up, you just need to…” He rapped his knuckles three times, across the middle of each star. “...hit these three stars in rapid succession. Once you’re inside, no one can open it up, but you. That way, to prevent an enemy from just pulling you out and sho - “   
  
_ “Howard.”  _ Peggy looked down at the man with a warning on her tone. “Do not give him nightmares.”   
  
“Only being honest, Pegs.  _ Anyway… _ ” The helmet had fallen back on its hinges, revealing an opening inside that was just big enough for the size of Steve to crawl inside and out of. Inside, there was a comfortable looking seat with many levers and pulls, multiple screens lighting up the interior. “Get inside. I’ll show you what does what.”   
  
Steve grunted his thanks as Howard and Peggy both picked him up and he climbed down the small ladder Howard had built for ease of use. The way that the armor was set up, it meant Steve was sitting in the most protective part of the whole piece: The belly of the beast.   
  
“Okay, Steve!” Howard’s face had appeared above him, pulling himself over the edge and ducking his head down. “You got four screens so you can see around yourself at all times. This purple lever here will activate the rockets. You have these two controls right below it to control the feet. These beside it control the arms.”    
  
Howard pointed out the levers that controlled what limb, how to activate the blasters, how to deactivate them. Ease himself down in flight. One dial even controlled how far out Steve could see with advance binoculars built into one of the cameras. Not to mention, the weaponry. Oh, Howard seemed most proud of this. Decked out with several propelled rockets to ‘knock ‘em germans out of the sky.’, several guns that would activate and be killed at the flick of a switch, several smaller grenade-strength rockets built in the hands used for self combat. And not to mention the level of fire that came from the propel blasters from the feet themselves.    
  
“And of course, this big, red,  _ do not touch  _ button is for self-destruct. Every standard issue has one. Or well, they will when these babies start to sell. It’s a - well you know what it does. Kill switch in an end-all situation. Think you got it?”   
  
Steve blinked. He hoped Howard had written a manual somewhere because there were simply too many levers and buttons to remember what was what. The four screens in front of him showed his front, back, sides, and aerial vision. So far, it seemed both easy and complicated. He hoped no one expected him to fly out soon because this...this was confusing.    
  
“I think we’re ready for a test, alright, Steve!” Howard jumped back and took a few steps back, waving for Peggy to follow.   
  
Peggy in turn gave Steve a confident smile and thumbs up before retreating behind Howard.   
  
“Right, Steve. Turn the key.  _ There we go!”  _ The armor lit up in bright lights the second Steve had turned the key. The helm swung shut and he could hear several pressurized locks sliding into place, sealing him inside. “Now, turn the boosters on. You’ll rise a little bit in the air.”    
  
That was the nervous part. Steve pressed what he thought was the booster button. Howard hadn’t put a label on these things. The armor shook dangerously, as if threatening for bolts to fly out and for it to all fall apart. The shaking slowed down to a gentle thumping under the seat, the suit rising a foot or two off the air.    
  
Steve smiled brightly when Howard and Peggy cheered, throwing his fist into the air. He knocked into one of the controls, the suit being blown backward and pummeling him straight into a thicket of trees. Steve went through four trees before he killed the suit and the thing crashed to the ground.   
  
_ “Steven!”  _   
  
The helmet of the machine slowly opened, the pressure hissing as it was released. Peggy’s concern face poked inside, blocking the morning sunlight. She sighed in relief that he was okay, shaking her head with an amused look on her face.    
  
“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” she teased, pulling him out with her surprising new strength. “One more concussion and I’m afraid that brain of yours is damaged.”   
  
“Funny enough, ma’am…” Steve grumbled, looking over at Howard with a sheepish apology shrug. “I think I would agree with you.”   
  
***   
  
It’s funny how fast two weeks will go when you’re in the middle of the floods of war. How the many soldiers who passed through your camp were wary of you as much as you were wary of them. How they regarded Peggy with little respect simply because she was a woman and quite often because she was British. They regarded Steve with the same level of respect simply for his size and how he needed a ‘cheat’ to join the military. Aka the suit,   
  
Still, as much as rumors spread across the camp about them and about how ‘they earned their positions’, Peggy and Steve grew closer together. During the day, Steve trained with the armored suit. Often with Howard, sometimes with Peggy if she could pull away from war councils and mission talk with Phillips. At night, they’d scope out a place to be alone. Sometimes, it was as simple as daring to hold hands and watch the stars. Othertimes, Peggy read to him from a French poetry book using the moon for light. Steve didn’t understand a word she said, but he enjoyed her beautiful voice and the way her hands carded through his hair.   
  
Each day that passed, Steve was up earlier than most soldiers. He sorted through Phillips' pile of new mail from the day before, helping organize it. He went through the maps, through the hours and hours of transcripts of messages decoded and sent back and forth. While it looked like he was pretty much being a good office assistant while Colonel Phillips was either still asleep or talking to Peggy, Steve was  _ looking.  _ Looking for any hope of anything about Bucky, be it just a name on a paper. Sergeant Barnes. James. Bucky.  _ Anything.  _ He was begging whatever being was in the sky to just listen to him. Just to prove to him that Bucky was somehow alive.    
  
And perhaps Phillips did know that because never once did he complain about Steve being in his office. He always had a look on his face when Steve would walk away, dejected that he would not be able to find anything on his best friend.    
  
_ “Steven.”  _ Peggy’s voice was soft, her hand over his mouth so he didn’t wake up with a start and alert the entire camp that she was in his tent. The moon was still up, lower in the sky indicating dawn was coming soon. “We need to go.  _ It  _ happened.”    
  
There was a heavyweight of guilt, like lead in his stomach that told Steve what  _ it  _ was. Today had breached the official three-week mark. One week too late for the 107th to be back. They hadn’t heard any messages sent out in over three days. Each day that ticked by told Steve that something was wrong. He could feel it in his gut. While Peggy agreed with him, they simply had to wait.   
  
And it seems they waited far too long.    
  
Steve was instantly on his feet, having fallen asleep still dressed. Over the last few days, he had been helping out where he could with soldiers pouring in. Mainly assisting those in the medical tent. He was an extra pair of hands, knew how to disinfect a wound, and how to properly tie up a bandage, so Steve was useful to the fellow doctors and nurses. It helped when your mother worked as a nurse and you had to spend a part of your life dressing your wounds from fights.    
  
Howard was waiting for them by the suit, still tinkering away on it over the last few weeks. Improvements had been made to the blasters for easy control, the lights were stronger for them to see in the dark, and could be killed with a switch. Infrared goggles and night vision goggles made him versatile in the field.   
  
“Stark, I need to get a plane up in five.” Peggy’s voice had a tone that told Howard she  _ wished  _ someone would argue against her choices. She would tear their head clean off their shoulders. “Load the suit up. He’ll get in it on the way.”   
  
Steve threw a look back to Phillips makeshift office area. The man knew about Hydra’s intel and the risk of the 107th. While Phillips should’ve just told them to cut their losses and just handed out the letters to the deceased soldier’s family, he knew Agent Carter and Cadet Rogers better than that by now.   
  
They were going to bring their boys home.   
  
“He knows,” Peggy murmured, her lips barely moving. “Phillips is buying us time to get the hell out of here. He’ll come up with whatever excuse he can for the generals visiting.”   
  
Steve’s head bobbed, a show he was listening. He swirled his head back around to meet her eyes. In the setting moon, they looked shades darker. “What was that thing you told me the other day after Cadet Hodge tried to  _ fight  _ me? Trouble follows me.”   
  
Peggy couldn’t help the smirk to her lips as she took hold of Steve’s forearm and led him onto the plane. “Trouble  _ does  _ tend to follow you, but I will admit...you add a certain spice to life.”  
  
***   
  
Steve drops the suit back beside Bucky and Peggy on their trek back towards the camp. Along with them beyond the 107th are several tanks and new weapons taken from Hydra’s base. Some Howard was already begging to get his hands on. The suit had stood up perfectly to Hydra’s soldiers and their new weaponry. It deflected bullets, any lasers shot at him were simply reflected towards the shooter. The based rockets did wonder to blow holes in buildings for easy exit points. Not to mention it could easily handle the weight of a stubborn Captain and Bucky.   
  
“I was wondering when you were going to grace us with your presence, Stevie.” Bucky purred, throwing his hand into the chest of the armor with a pout.    
  
Steve popped his head out, brushing the sweat-soaked lengths from his face. He gave a happy grin, having set the suit to autopilot and dropped the speed down so he was keeping pace with them. “Well excuse me for pushing those tanks up the hill.”   
  
Bucky laughed. Throwing his head back, eyes crinkling sort of laugh. “Pegs…” He was one of the only people to drop straight into a nickname for her, giving that cheesy, flirting grin that came easy to the likes of Bucky and made Steve’s stomach twist in jealousy. “You’re a great soldier. I’ve seen how Steve trusts you. That’s hard to earn, I owe you my life.” And yet, he rolled his eyes with an overdramatic, heavy sigh. “I can’t  _ believe _ I owe a  _ brit _ my life. What is this world coming to?”   
  
Steve raised an eyebrow, looking down at his best friend. “One where your best friend is in an iron suit rather than an iron lung. A healthy trade up, I should say.”   
  
“ _ And  _ one where my best friend is in love with this  _ Brit  _ that saved my life. You choose interesting friends, Stevie, buddy.”   
  
“Says the Jewish idiot who - ” It dawned on him  _ instantly  _ what Bucky had said, dropping back down into the suit and the helmet closing with a heavy swing. His face had flushed a shade of pink and his nose might’ve started to bleed. Not that Steve would tell anyone at this point.  
_ *** _

_ “Let’s give it up for Captain America!”  _   
  
The cheers were deafening and well deserved. Peggy’s charming smile as she looked around at the hundreds of soldiers before her eyes landed on Steve, who now sat on the Iron Soldier’s [Bucky’s unfortunate name that had  _ stuck]  _ shoulder with Bucky on the opposite side. Steve was cheering with the rest, his cheers lost in the crowd, but out of all of them, he had the proudest look on his face.

It was late that evening before Peggy and Steve both had a chance to even be alone. The celebration had died down to several fires and soldiers joining together to drink around the flames and share stories.   
  
The stars were shining about them, almost like diamonds in the sky. The moon full and round, casting plenty of light for the pair's nightly walk to the edge of the camp. Even amongst the celebration, it was nice to step away and be with one another.    
  
“Peggy..” Steve had stopped them and turned towards her, taking both of her hands into his own. When Steve smiled, this time it lit up his whole face. She looked like she was getting ready to speak but Steve shook his head. He had to say this or he wouldn’t. He was riding off the high that came with rescuing soldiers, that came with being reunited with your best friend, and trying to drink away, and erase the horror in his mind that was Red Skull. If anything, that nazi-loving piece of shit had solidified how  _ important  _ Peggy was to him and how the horrors of war could turn the tide and take all that you love dear from you.   
  
It was now or never.   
  
_ “Peggy.  _ I would follow you to the ends of the earth if you asked me to. If you told me you would go, I would still follow even if you didn’t ask. If Red Skull has taught me one thing, it is that life is short. And…”   
  
Over her shoulder, Bucky is laughing with Howard. One arm is thrown around his shoulder, both drunk. Dugan and another soldier were singing some songs in French, swaying back and forth. Just happy they were alive and celebrating that very fact.    
  
“ _ And,”  _ Steve continued, “Bucky is right. I do love you. I don’t want the unfortunate to happen and you or I die on the field one day thinking I didn’t love you.”   
  
Peggy was quiet, letting the emotions settle in. “Well,” she sighed, squeezing his hands. “Perhaps it's a good thing that I will not die on the field. Not with you and Barnes by my side. But...as any luck would have it, Steven, I’m in love with you too.”   
  
It was Peggy who pulled Steve in for a soft kiss, a hand moving to bury into his blonde hair. His own touching the side of her neck, pulling their bodies closer together. Their eyes slid close, solidifying this moment together.    
  
They didn’t see that over Peggy’s shoulder, Bucky and Howard sat around the fire. Howard looking glum, slipping Bucky a wad of dollar bills, muttering about how he was never going to make a bet with Barnes again.


End file.
